The Best Designs of Latte Art for Beginners

Gilbert PattersonNovember 21, 2018November 18, 2018Comments Off on The Best Designs of Latte Art for Beginners

As a coffee lover, you know the refreshing feeling you get when enjoying a cup of latte with eye-catching art design. Whether it’s in the morning or afternoon, this art is one of the things that enable you to put on a smile on your face. Latte is a coffee drink made with steamed milk and espresso and has some foam on the top. As a beginner, you can easily make it. However, you should realize there are several ways you can come up with creative art designs for this incredible drink. Let’s look at what you need first.

The Basics You’ll Need

When preparing latte art designs, you’ll need to have milk, coffee and chocolate syrup, which are the main ingredients. The tools you need to have are:

A jug/pitcher

A cup

Espresso machine

A latte art tool or toothpick (you can also use something thicker)

How to Come Up With the Best Creamy Milk Foam

The first thing you need to have is cold milk. You should not heat the cold milk before steaming. When using coffee, the best option is to use full fat milk, although it won’t result in a huge difference if you use other types of milk. Pour the milk in the pitcher and raise the steaming wand. However, you should avoid raising it too high. You can know if it’s too high if you see huge bubbles forming. When the milk heats up to 140 F – 180 F, you should turn off the steaming wand.

You may not have much experience, meaning you may not know when to turn it off by just having a look at it. The best way to get accurate measurements is to use a thermometer. Tap the pitcher or jug on your table/counter to enable you to remove large bubbles and create a thicker form. Proceed and swirl it just a bit and the milk should be ready to pour. If you don’t have an espresso machine, you can use your microwave to prepare the milk. Beginners will find this method to be simpler.

Your tastes will determine the type of espresso you need. It’s important you realize that coffee beans and espresso are different. Every type of espresso tastes differently, which means you should know the characteristics of each type before buying. Try different types to enable you to buy the best one. Let’s now look at 4 of the best designs.

Heart

The heart is one of the most popular latte art designs for beginners. To come up with this design, your one-ounce cup should have three ounces of milk. You should then steam it. Tilt this cup at an angle of 45 degrees using one of your hands while the other pours the milk to its center. Ensure you hold the pitcher high enough to enable the milk come to the cup’s bottom. When the cup is filled up to three quarters, you should pour your milk and shake your hands a little bit (remember it’s the pitcher, not the cup). Get the pitcher close to the cup and avoid shaking it again. At this point, you’ll notice some white circles forming. Once the cup is almost full, pour your milk in line, that’s from one side to the other through the center.

Etch Spirals

If you want to avoid the syrup from going down to the bottom, you’ll need to create a thicker foam. Using syrup enables you to come with amazing latte art. For instance, you can draw a spiral from the mug’s center to its edge. You can then use a toothpick or a thicker tool to pull the lines from the center towards the edge. You should create five lines to in order to come up with a star design. Between these lines, you can make other lines from the edge towards the center.

Chocolate Syrup Circles

Another latte design is the Chocolate syrup circles. To make it, you should come up with two lines using the chocolate syrup in a way that looks as if it’s a plus sign. You should them make two diagonal lines that come from one side of the cup to the other. Use a toothpick or tool and draw a spiral, starting from the center until you reach the cup’s edge. You’ll realize that these designs look amazing but are simple to make.

Rosetta

Rosetta is one of the best designs you can come up with for your latte. To design it, you’ll need to tilt the cup around 45 degrees and pour the milk. Hold the pitcher some distance from the cup. The milk stream should be thin to enable it to create the base as it goes to the bottom.

When the cup reaches three-quarter full, you should hold the pitcher close to the cup until it rests on it. Once the cup and pitcher make contact, pour some more milk, and a white form dot will emerge. You should then move the pitcher from side to side. The moment you reach the cup’s end, pour less milk, lift your pitcher and move the milk stream forwards through the center.

Wrapping Up

Making latte art designs may seem difficult. However, as the above article shows, they are simple to make. With practice, you’ll come up with the incredible designs that will ensure you find more reasons to enjoy your cup of coffee.